


hard to beat

by helsinkibaby



Category: FBI (TV 2018)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Het, Romance, Secret Relationship, post ep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:34:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21663784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: Kristen didn’t know that Jubal spent two years in Russia. There are also things Jubal doesn’t know about Kristen.
Relationships: Kristen Chazal/Jubal Valentine
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	hard to beat

**Author's Note:**

> Post ep to 1.08 “This is your Land”

Jubal thought he could be forgiven for not being on the top of his game. After all, the day had started off with a kidnapped Russian chemical weapons expert, descended into a Ruby Ridge type affair by late afternoon and turned into a near chemical weapons attack in the middle of New York by evening. And that was before that weird conversation in Dana’s office where she’d asked him what was next for him, had brought up for the first time the fact that she knew he’d applied for the job that was now hers. 

Truth be told, since he’d been passed over for the job, he hadn’t actually considered what would be next for him. He actually liked the job he had now, liked the people he worked with, had a good routine going between work and his ex-wife and his kids. He didn’t exactly want to screw anything up by over reaching his grasp. 

But something about the way Dana looked at him had him wondering if, when the time came, he’d have any say in the matter. 

It wasn’t a pleasant thought. 

He was distracted from his thoughts by the sound of voices behind him; Maggie and OA about to head out, talking to Kristen who was still sitting at her desk, looking as if she was going to be there for some time. He tried not to be too obvious that he was listening to them, waiting until Maggie and OA left before walking over to Kristen. “You still here?” he asked, and maybe she knew that he was feigning surprise because her lips quirked up ever so slightly.

“The wheels of justice turn slowly, but not as slowly as this computer,” she said dryly and he made a mental note to get tech support to have a look at it. Then he made a mental note to delete that mental note; the last time tech support had tried to touch Kristen’s baby, she’d repaired the issue herself and almost made the tech cry. In fact, Jubal would have bet any amount of money that the computer was running just fine and that she was looking for an excuse to still be here when everyone else had left.

The notion made him want to smile but he knew better. “Hell of a day, huh?” he said instead and she nodded before looking up at him sharply as if she’d just remembered something.

“I never knew you spent two years in Russia.”

He’d forgotten that he’d mentioned that this morning. It seemed like a million years ago. “Yeah, not my favourite of my dad’s assignments.” Moscow in the late 80s had not been a barrel of laughs. “We were there for almost two years, then Bush Senior was inaugurated, put all his own people in.” He half grimaced, half smiled. “Not gonna lie, I always liked him for that.”

Kristen’s eyes sparkled. “Did you have one of those furry hats with the floppy ears?” As a matter of fact, he had, and the memory made him flush. Which of course Kristen noticed and it made her grin in obvious delight. Jubal knew his mom had photographs and he thanked every lucky star he had that the Internet hadn’t existed back then.

“No comment.”

She narrowed her eyes. “ _A kak tvoy russkiy segodnya?_ ” she asked in barely accented Russian and he raised both eyebrows, though he didn’t know why he was surprised. In his experience, Kristen was a woman of many talents.

In point of fact, his Russian was fairly rusty, definitely not good enough to pass muster with a native, but he still remembered a thing or two. “ _Vse yeshche nedostatochno khorosh, chtoby proizvesti vpechatleniye na simpatichnykh devushek_ ,” he replied and, despite his words she did look impressed. 

She looked in his eyes, didn’t blink as she said, “ _U tebya ne tak uzh plokho_.” 

He decided to take that as a compliment, even as he switched to English. The better part of valour was discretion after all, and he was much better off quitting while he was ahead. “Not doing too badly?” He kept his voice low. “I was hoping for a little more than that.”

Kristen smiled a slow smile. “Talk to me later and we’ll see what we can do.”

Jubal tilted his head, eyed up the clock on the wall. “Meet me at the elevator in ten minutes?”

This time, there was nothing slow about her smile. “Make it five,” she said and there was only one way to answer that.

“Yes, Ma’am.”

He smiled all the way back to his desk, realising once again that while he might not have been able to answer Dana’s question about what was next for him, what he had right now was pretty hard to beat.

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies if the Russian is off, it was a complete google translate job! 
> 
> According to the dread machine, it should read as follows -  
> Kirsten: So how is your Russian now?  
> Jubal : still not good enough to impress a pretty girl.  
> Kristen : you’re not doing too badly. 
> 
> If anything needs correcting, please let me know!


End file.
